My major focus with Extension has always been helping people shop on a budget and stretch their food dollar, however in these difficult economic times, doing more with less never seemed so important. While the price of gas and other goods have dropped, food has not followed the same trend. Milk, meat, fruits, and vegetables have either stayed the same price or gone up, making it difficult to plan well balanced meals.

If you are finding it harder and harder to stretch your food dollar, please reread posts done last year on Coupons and Sales, Shopping with a Grocery List, and Saving at the Grocery Store. Also check out Getting Through Tough Financial Times, a website provided through Extension.

Most importantly, sharpening your cooking skills and spending a little time preparing meals can go a long way in saving money. For ideas on what to cook, Check out Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals for meal plans, recipes, and ways to save on food buying. The baked chicken nuggets are our favorite. For more economical recipes, check out the USDA's recipe finder. You can pick recipes by type, ingredient, cost, or cooking method. Once you make it, you can even come back and rate the recipe.

If you feel you have had success in saving money at the grocery store, please send me your story. I would love to share it.

It is the time of year to start thinking about joining a CSA. For those of you who are not familiar with CSA's, here is an explanation I did last year. There are various places you can go to find CSA listings for your area, but the most complete list I found was on the Local Beet.

If you are like me and have a hard time making it to the farmer's market on a regular basis, CSA's are a great way to get regular seasonal produce with little effort. At the same time you are supporting the local economy.